Hollywood actress Dame Helen Mirren has revealed she was stopped from playing her latest role in French because American audiences do not like subtitles.

In comedy-drama The Hundred-Foot Journey she plays Madame Mallory, the proprietor of a Michelin-starred restaurant in a small French town who clashes with a displaced Indian family when they open a curry house nearby.

Dame Helen Mirren who has revealed that she was stopped from playing her latest role of Madame Mallory in The Hundred-Foot Journey in French because American audiences do not like subtitles. Credit: PA

"I was hoping I was going to be able to do my part in French. I've always had a secret desire to be a French actress," the Oscar-winner told the Telegraph Magazine.

But she was not allowed to go ahead with the idea because of the anticipated reaction in the US.

She revealed: "When it came to it, they said 'Oh no, that won't do. You can't play it in French. The Americans won't understand it and they don't like subtitles.' Which was sad for me."

Helen Mirren shared this picture of herself as a child as part of the Barnardo's campaign to boost foster parenting numbers. Credit: Barnardos

More than 8,600 foster carers are urgently needed in the UK and the campaign, led by Barnardo's, is calling on members of the public to consider becoming foster parents and help create happy childhood memories for some of the most vulnerable youngsters.